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African Journal of Business Management Vol. 6(14), pp. 5093-5104, 11 April, 2012 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJBM DOI: 10.5897/AJBM11.2346 ISSN 1993-8233 ©2012 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Accounting academics vs. academic writing: The battle of the pen Henrie Benedict1 and Chux Gervase Iwu2* 1

Department of Financial Accounting and Taxation, Faculty of Business, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa. 2 Department of Entrepreneurship and Business Management, Faculty of Business, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa. Accepted 19 December, 2011

Accounting academics in South Africa are now, more than ever before, defined not only as lecturers but as scientists who engage in scholarly activities; in research. It is general knowledge that accredited academic publications can only be possible after researches have been conducted. These publications are sometimes taken into consideration during promotion of these academics. Despite the importance and “push” to do research, many accounting academics in South Africa do not take this into consideration. This paper endeavoured to identify the research-related needs of accounting academics in South African universities. This was achieved through a survey (questionnaires and non-structured interview techniques) that was done mainly through the use of e-mail to all accounting academics in South Africa (a census) and some telephone communication. The findings show that accounting academics are aware of the importance of doing research but are in dire need of research training at different levels and stages. They need to further their postgraduate qualifications thereby creating an avenue for them to do research. The study indicates that accounting departments at some institutions have already started some interventions like research writing workshops and mentoring to bridge these research capacity-building needs. Out of all the research needs, mentoring and finding suitable research topics are the major ones. Key words: Accounting research, accounting academics, national research foundation, accounting profession, South Africa, accounting qualification, South African institute of chartered accountants (SAICA), Southern African accounting association (SAAA).

INTRODUCTION The importance of research in the academia cannot be over-emphasized as this is the medium through which new ideas are discovered and sometimes old ideas are reworked and improved. The accounting academics and accounting profession also value the importance of research. These are evident in the thrust in getting accounting academics to engage in scholarly activities and the evolvement of the statements of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Despite the initiatives and directives for accounting academics to do

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected].

research, a lot still needs to be done in terms of capacity building of these academics on the prowess of “doing science”. Unlike some other faculties and disciplines that are research-oriented by nature, the accounting discipline, in particular, does not necessitate skills like experiments and extensive report writing in its curriculum. This factor, among others, may tend to be detrimental to the level of exposure that accounting academics have in the art and science of doing research. This is also indicated in the few National Research Foundation‟s (NRF) rated researchers in the accounting discipline when compared to some other disciplines; especially the basic and applied sciences. According to NRF 2007 reports, out of

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research needs of accounting academics will shed more light into the major areas that require attention in order for more accounting lecturers to engage in research and other scholarly activities. Therefore, the problem statement may be concisely stated as follows: Accounting academics are not doing research because they lack the necessary capacity to do research and/or there are other factors encumbering the fostering of research in the accounting academia. Having stated the research problem, the next logical stage will be to try and find out what the capacity-building needs or the impeding factors are. The following question is the underlying thesis for this paper: Figure 1. Factors fostering research engagement.

i. What are the research skills needs of accounting academics in South Africa and what factors may encourage research engagement? the 1, 753 rated researchers, only 68 (representing 4%) are from economics, management, administration and accounting combined (NRF, 2007:9-13). This 4% represents rated researchers from few universities – University of Stellenbosch (14); University of Cape Town (12); University of Pretoria (12); and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (7); the remaining 23 rated researchers spread over the other universities. The accounting curriculum entails an enormous amount of teaching, coupled with the pressure on accounting academics to “produce” enough accountants for the labour market. These put more pressure on the accounting academics to fulfil all the core functions – teaching, research and community engagement. Notwithstanding the time constraints that may be a major factor impeding engagement in scholarly activities, the possibility of lack of capacity to do research cannot be ruled out as one of the factors deterring accounting academics from engaging in research. The objective of this paper is to present findings on identified factors that may be contributing to lack of research among accounting academics and identify possible solutions – based on the responses of accounting academics themselves.

Problem statement and research questions Much pressure, more than ever before, is on accounting lecturers to engage in scholarly activities. At the same time, studies have shown that many of these lecturers are not equipped with the necessary training to engage in such activities. Coetzee (2010) pointed out that accounting research is lacking well-trained researchers and, among others, this results into few peer-reviewed papers in accredited journals coming from the discipline. Other studies and perceptions are that the lecturing workload is enormous and therefore leaves little time for research engagement. It is believed that identifying the

It implies that the objective of this paper is to identify the necessary research skills needed by accounting academics so as to spur them into doing research; and also to identify other possible factors that may lead to the fostering of accounting research in South African universities. The following section looks at the “fit” of this study having identified some studies that have been done on this topic and indicated the gap (Badenhorst, 2010). Conceptual framework Apart from awareness of the importance of engaging in research, are academics in the accounting fields doing research or are they having constraints to this effect? The assumption here is that there are different factors that may advance positive disposition toward doing research. Some of these factors are illustrated in Figure 1. Many studies have been done on academic writing, publishing and the emphasis on scholarly activities of academics. In spite of the place of research in academics, some sentiments have been expressed about overemphasis on publication in “top-rated” journals, overburdening of academics, unrealistic publication requirements from journal publishers, lack of capacity to do research, lack of importance of publications to the immediate environment, just to mention some (Adler and Harzing, 2009; Coetsee, 2010; Leong and Leung, 2004; Leung, 2007; McGahan, 2007; Chan et al., 2006; Deem, 2006). In the same light, and particularly focused on the research capacity-building needs of accounting academics, this study attempts to find out what needs to be done. Having discussed the framework in which this research was conducted, this paper reviews literature and delves into some related studies on research needs and other matters pertaining to academic researches and publications.

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Publications The publish or perish trend is not peculiar to South African academics; in fact it is a common phenomena in the academic world and receiving vast attention in terms of discourse. The ultimate objective of doing research should be the dissemination of the findings. The common perception is that the distribution of such findings should be via accredited journals; to the extent that publication of articles has become a major aspect of quality management in many universities. It is common knowledge that universities receive subsidies from the Department of Education (DoE) for, among other scholarly activities, articles published in accredited journals. Research produced by universities is measured by the number of journal articles, chapters in books, books and conference papers its academics publish annually in approved local and international publications (Govender, 2011). However, it takes two years for the DoE to finalize and pay out; that is, subsidies for publications in 2011 will be paid out in 2013. In 2011, an audit commissioned by the DoE indicated that a combined amount of R 1.2 billion was due to the 23 institutions in South Africa; for researches conducted and published in 2009 (Govender, 2011). An additional amount of R 1 billion will be paid to universities with master's and doctoral students involved in research and who graduated in 2009. The audit also showed that 60% of the researches were by five top universities (University of Cape Town, University of the Witwatersrand, University of Pretoria, University of Stellenbosch, and University of KwaZuluNatal), while eight others (including Walter Sisulu University, University of Venda, University of Limpopo, University of Zululand and Durban University of Technology) produced only 3.8% of the total output. Some other institutions showed stagnancy while some showed a gradual decline (Govender, 2011). This is perhaps what Nieuwoudt and Wilcocks (2005) referred to when they noted that the top universities were traditional universities and Historically White Institutions (HWI) while those that underperformed or at the bottom of the list were Historically Black Institutions (HBI‟s) and Universities of Technology (UOT‟s). It appears that the ripple effect of the past legislation of segregation is yet to be neutralized. To further buttress the afore observation, the audit referred to earlier pointed out that the top institutions have a good track record in terms of research, while others focus on teaching. Generally, academics at the universities of technology focus on teaching; and also need to better their academic qualifications. Not surprising therefore that not even one university of technology is part of the top 5 research excellence universities (Govender, 2011). Indications are that the caliber and qualifications of academics were key drivers in the volume of research produced in their institutions. The institutions which fared poorly in researches do not have many staff with doctoral and master's degrees

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(Govender, 2011: 23). The DoE audit showed that: “While 549 staff members at UCT had doctorates and 298 master's degrees, according to the department, Mangosuthu University of Technology had five doctorates and 54 master's degrees”. A study conducted to review the status of European publishing in high-impact Information System journals showed a disappointing record. Despite popular explanations to this state of affairs, Lyytinen et al. (2007: 317) found them neither credible nor useful for improving the status quo. They however proposed several constructive reasons for the finding; including 1) the lack of appreciation of the article genre, 2) weak publishing cultures, 3) inadequate Ph.D. preparation for article publishing, 4) weak reviewing practices, 5) poorer command of research methods, 6) poorer understanding of the reviewing protocols, and 7) institutional shaping of research funding in Europe. This study focuses on the accounting academics and also pays more attention on the research capacity-building needs of these academics. Singh et al. (2007) investigated the appropriateness of using publication of an article in a top management journal as a proxy for its quality and they concluded with a recommendation that research in the management discipline will be well served by efforts to evaluate each article on its own merits rather than abdicate this responsibility by using journal ranking as a proxy for quality. Similarly, in an explorative study that looks at the issues of low acceptance rates of submitted research papers and an increasingly lengthy publication process, Moizer (2008: 285) and Armstrong (2006) found out that acceptance rates for top quality journals sometimes hover around the 10% mark. Consequently, Moizer (2008) suggest that it is either too many authors are submitting substandard articles or too many reviewers are setting unrealistically high hurdles over which authors have to jump. To meet the demands of the “publish or perish” trend, East Asian academics set their eyes on the best management journals in the West (Leung, 2007). The warning here is that the adoption of the Western approach (publishing overseas) may eventually prevail as academics following the local approach (publishing in local journals) will be marginalized. However, as stated by Leung (2007), the advantage is that a focus on Western top management journals has improved the conceptual and methodological rigors of East Asian research. Research interventions Other popular interventions to foster research are conferences and workshops aimed at sharpening the research skills of junior faculty members and postgraduate students. Despite this fact, the intervention does not materialize because there are sometimes funding constraints and “no presentation, no attendance”

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policies in many institutions. Probably due to inadequate budget allocation towards conference attendances or for some other reasons, up-coming researchers and faculty members are not allowed (sponsored) to attend conferences if they are not going to do some form of presentation. These constraints defeat the objectives of such workshops geared towards imparting research skills. Moizer (2009) notes further: A common feature of most university funding of attendance at an overseas conference is that the applicant for funding must present a paper at the conference; no presentation, no funding. Clearly, this creates an unwelcome set of imperatives. Organizers of conferences know that in order for the conference to be a financial success, they must attract a lot of academics. However, in order for an academic to be able to afford the conference fees and travel and accommodation costs, the academic has to be allowed to present his or her research in order to receive funding and therefore to come at all. Hence, the large conferences attracting a multi-national attendance have to have a large number of parallel sessions with each author allowed only a modest amount of time to present the results. Accordingly, papers presented at conferences may not meet the stringent requirements of article publication. Notwithstanding, junior academics (researchers) should be availed the opportunities to attend and “have a feel” of what “doing science” entails. Another important detriment to accounting research is availability of research topics. In the textbook on writing for academic journal, Murray (2009) referred to “genre of discipline” and “tribal response” as terms that came up in a quest for academics to have cross-discipline research. Murray indicated that some academics are so invested in the distinctiveness of their discipline to the extent that they are of the opinion that they can learn nothing from others; there are no commonalities; and trying to find a “common ground” is a waste of time. Murray eventually recommends that, despite the importance of focusing on the genre of discipline, it is equally important to learn about the genre form available to all disciplines. Inferably, the “line of duty” in accounting academics – that is, lecturing and marks administration create enough background for research topics. Sometimes the general rule of vigorous study before coming up with a topic and /or writing is not always the feasible option. Murray (2009) explains this as an approach where topics are not sought after in the literature, but to start with what is already known; developing research topics from familiar subjects based on the already existing body of knowledge and experience. METHODOLOGY This is an empirical study that uses a combined approach of qualitative and quantitative methods. It was important to employ

both qualitative and quantitative methods so that the responses to the questionnaire, which included closed-ended and open-ended questions, could be rightly analysed (Brannen, 2005; Johnson and Onwuegbuzie, 2004). From the research question, this study attempts to identify the research needs of accounting academics. The target population included accounting academics (lecturers) in South African universities. The researchers attempted to collect the data through a census – that is including the whole population in the data collection. University websites and the South African Accounting Association (SAAA) website were visited to obtain the email addresses of accounting lecturers in all the universities (traditional and UOTs) in South Africa. Accounting lecturers in different streams namely taxation, auditing, financial, costing and management were all included.

The questionnaire The questionnaire that was used for data collection was distributed to respondents via their emails. They completed the questionnaire and either sent it back via email or fax. The items in the questionnaire were grouped into three major sections apart from the demographic information. They focused on the following: i. Accounting academics‟ awareness and involvement in research ii. Accounting academics‟ perceptions of research iii. Research needs of accounting academics Content validity of the data collection instrument was ensured through consultation with more research expertise and Cronbach‟s alpha was used to check the reliability of the questionnaire. The set of questions (12 items) on the perception about research had an alpha of 0.704, while the questions (13 items) of the research needs had an alpha of 0.902; making the instruments to be highly reliable (Maree, 2010).

Open-ended questions and telephonic interviews The open-ended question in the questionnaire, as well as some telephonic interviews with willing respondents was used to gain a deeper understanding of the perceptions and needs of accounting academics concerning research. These responses were useful in the discussions section.

Data analysis Data collection was via emailed questionnaire and analysis was done with the SPSS. Descriptive statistics as well as inferential analyses were done. Correlation analyses and T tests were carried out to establish the existence of relationships among measured variables.

RESULTS Descriptive statistics: Respondents Out of the e-mailed questionnaires, only 126 (approximately 10% of the target population) were returned and suitable for data analysis. Most response was from Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). This may be as a result of more feasible followup as the researchers were members of faculty. Gender representation was most evenly distributed, with an

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Table 1. Ranking the perception of accounting academics about research.

Perception Enormous teaching workload may be detrimental to doing research Accounting academics need to be equipped with research tools. Mentoring by senior research academics can develop young researchers. Study leave is necessary for academics doing research. It may be relatively more difficult or challenging to do research in accounting fields. Accounting research will make me a better academic. Accounting research is important to quality teaching and learning. It is more practical to do a collaborative research with other disciplines. Throughput rate is a better promotion index" than publication. Accredited publications are relevant to challenges in teaching and learning. It is possible to do pure accounting research. There are sufficient accounting journals for accredited publications.

approximately 50% each of male and female respondents. The mean age of the respondents was 40 years and an average 10 years of experience in the universities. Looking at the discipline, 44% of the respondents specialize in financial accounting, cost and management accounting - 28%. Fifty-seven percent of the respondents were lecturers while 33% were senior lecturers. There were only 23 associate professors. Information on educational (academic) qualification shows that 48% of the respondents have honours as their highest qualifications and 42% already have master‟s qualification. Thirty-five percent of the respondents are South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) members while 46% are not affiliated with any professional accounting body.

Descriptive statistics: exposure to research

Accounting

academic’s

The information about the respondents‟ involvement in some form of scholarly activities is discussed here. A major overwhelming response was about the importance of research in the recent world of academics – there was a 100% affirmative response. However, the average time allocated to research was 13%. Towards furthering their academic qualifications, 61% were currently studying while only 7% were busy studying towards their professional qualifications. Sixty-one percent of the respondents claim to be busy with some form of research. Only 37% have ever presented a peerreviewed paper and 22% are involved in post-graduate supervision.

Descriptive statistics: Perception about accounting research The respondents‟ feelings about research in accounting

Mean 4.65 4.65 4.63 4.39 3.98 3.87 3.87 3.80 3.52 3.41 3.35 2.98

Std. dev. 0.875 0.566 0.645 0.802 1.220 1.310 1.240 0.859 1.188 1.127 1.402 1.000

are presented here. The responses here were categorical using a Likert scale. Table 1 shows the ranking of their perceptions about accounting research. It is important to note that „1‟ indicates “Strongly Disagree” while 5 is “Strongly Agree”.

Descriptive statistics: Research needs of accounting academics Of more importance to this study, this discuss statistically describes the perception of accounting academics with regards to research needs. These questions were also categorical using a Likert scale. To some extent, the findings are consistent with the findings of Lyytinen et al. (2007: 317). Table 2 shows the ranking of their responses. The respondents indicated their opinion about each research need.

Other responses and comments from respondents A section of the research instrument captured the dispositions of the respondents about research topics and possible collaborations with other disciplines and departments. There was also a space for open ended response – in the form of comments. Some of the findings are presented here. Figure 2 shows that accounting academics are more comfortable with accounting education, financial accounting and management accounting when it comes to conducting researches. The least researchable are auditing and accounting information technology. About doing science with other departments and collaborating with other disciplines, Figure 3 presents the respondents opinion about collaborative studies. Among the other departments, education and business management appears to be the favourite choice for a collaborative study. The least perceived easy

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Table 2. Ranking the perceived research needs of accounting academics.

Research need Mentoring and guidance Sponsoring to attend conferences - to gain exposure Funding and bursaries Research design and methods Networking and Collaborations Publication writing skills (Journal) Drafting the research proposal Research writing skills (thesis) Finding a suitable topic Data analysis and statistics Empathy and motivation Literature review Literature searches

Mean 4.54 4.50 4.41 4.39 4.37 4.37 4.33 4.28 4.28 4.26 4.09 4.07 4.02

Std. deviation 0.721 0.810 0.933 0.714 0.771 0.799 0.990 0.935 1.047 0.953 1.007 0.929 1.064

Figure 2. Which of the following do you perceive as easily researchable?

collaboration is with the medical sciences and agricultural sciences. A comprehensive list of comments given by the respondents is shown in the Appendix. However, the content of their comments are used in the discussion. As indicated by literature, the respondents had different opinions about the urge to do research and the need for capacity building. While some were of the opinion that the push to do research was an unrealistic tendency (Respondents 13, 17, 21, 32, 39 and 41), others were of the opinion that research was vital in universities (Respondents 5, 6, and 42) and needed support from the

management of the universities (see Respondents 2, 5, 6, 8, 13, 23, 26, 28, 30, 40 and 42). Some however warned that the thrust to do research and publish should be followed with caution (Respondent 25). Using the Pearson‟s correlation coefficient, relationships among variables were analysed. This was necessary to be able to analyse the findings deeper than mere descriptive statistics. Also, comments from the respondents were vital as it captured opinions not covered in the questions. Here, the analyses from the correlation analyses, T tests, analyses of the comments and the researchers‟ voices are presented. This paper

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Figure 3. Which faculty or department is easily as collaborative research?

also highlights some practical recommendations that are based on the responses from the accounting academics themselves. Since the findings of this study were more elaborate than anticipated, some possible further studies were identified.

DISCUSSION The response rate was lower than anticipated. Many of the accounting academics did not respond positively to the emailed questionnaire, but blamed it on the “workload”. The following discussion is based on the correlation analyses of the following variable sets: i. Correlation between accounting academics‟ involvement in research and their perception on research; ii. Correlation between accounting academics‟ involvement in research and their research needs Accounting academics’ perception on research There is a statistically significant relationship between the respondents studying towards an academic qualification and their perception that enormous teaching loads may be detrimental to engaging in research (p>0.000). On the contrary, and surprisingly so, there is no statistically significant relationship between their involvement in research (that is, the question “are you busy with a form of research presently?”) and the fact that they have

enormous teaching loads (p=0.023). There are some indications here and they may be summarised as follows: i. It is either the “workload”, that is commonly referred to, is consciously or sub-consciously entailing their involvement in post graduate academic (does not apply to professional qualifications) qualification; and/or ii. Respondents did not perceive their studies as “doing science” enough. This sentiment is further evident in the comment of Respondent 3. There were other significant relationships among items measuring the respondents‟ perceptions on research. While those who were of the opinion that accounting research was vital to quality teaching and learning also feel that accounting research will make them better academics; they however do not feel that neither is “difficulty to do accounting research” nor can the constraints associated with the throughput rate be compared with “doing science”. These academics are also of the perception that accounting academics need to be equipped with research tools and helped with mentoring so that they can contribute to science by writing publishable papers – that address imminent challenges in accounting teaching and learning. Respondents who opined that pure accounting research was feasible also argued that these researches may lead to publishable results that are relevant to challenges in accounting teaching and learning. They however have negative opinion, though not significant, about collaborative studies with other disciplines. The

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respondents who felt that more practicable approach to research may be through collaborative studies were also of the opinion that there were enough journals to publish their findings. This may be as a result of the “hybrid” nature of their studies, which makes them publishable in a wider range of journals – than pure accounting research papers. The respondents who perceive accounting research as being difficult have been influenced by this perception to the extent that they do not see the importance of research to accounting teaching and learning and neither do they think such studies have enough platforms for publication. One gets the sense that these respondents preferred teaching because it increases the throughput rate of their students rather than “doing science”. They were also the respondents who opined that study leave was necessary for academics involved in research. They do not perceive doing research as a means towards becoming better academics. Accounting academics’ research needs Understandably so, there are negative correlations (p=0.046) between respondents studying towards academic qualification or doing research and the identified research needs. It may be possible that those already involved in some studies are faring well and are not having problems with their researches. There is a strong negative relationship between doing research and finding a suitable topic (p